Philippines aims to shine at beach handball worlds
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Handball Federation Inc. is putting its best foot forward as it fields a women’s team to the IHF Beach Handball World Championships in Croatia set June 23-28.
“We are hoping to do better than the last time. I’m very confident that we can flourish in this sport,” said newly reelected PHFI president Dr. Ernesto “Jay” Adalem in Tuesday’s Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at the Philippine Sports Commission media room.
Adalem said the team has prepared well for the coming event that drew 16 countries, and is bent on surpassing its 12th place finish in the 2024 edition held in Pingtan Island in Fuzhou, China where Germany emerged champion.
In this edition, the Philippines will be in Group D along with 2024 runner up Argentina, Denmark and Benin. The Philippines must finish in the Top 3 to advance to the next round.
“That’s the goal. We want to surpass our finish last time. Right now we are ranked No. 12 in the world and No. 2 in Asia behind Vietnam,” added Adalem in the forum where he was joined by head coach Joanna Franquelli, playing coach AA Adriano, and players Za Mateo, Joe Ong, and Shang Berte.
Beach handball is a fast-paced sport similar to basketball and football, but played on sand and consisting of two 10-minute sets. Each team can field four players on the field with one goalkeeper.
“And ang atin dito is sana makilala ang handball. Hindi kilala ng mga Filipino. But right now, gumaganda na ang laro natin lalu na sa beach handball,” added Adalem in the forum presented by San Miguel Corporation, PSC, Philippine Olympic Committee, MILO, and the country’s 24/7 sports app ArenaPlus.
Adalem also thanked PSC chairman Patrick Gregorio for allowing them to share the futsal venue at the PhilSports Arena for the indoor handball team.
“Last time, we finished second in our group that included China, Portugal and Australia. We hope we can perform well and the results will be better than the last,” said Franquelli. (PSA pool story)
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